The people of Xuzhou City, of course, had their hearts set on their own country. The most common guess among them was: "The Japanese devils suffered a defeat on the front lines, a major defeat! That's why they're sending troops north of the city again and again."

With this guess, of course, some people asked, "Which unit could beat the Japanese devils like this?"

Immediately, some enthusiastic people offered an explanation: "Of course, it's the regular army of the Nationalists who stayed behind to fight guerrilla warfare.

"They have good weapons, large numbers, are well-trained, have a tenacious style, and act quickly."

Immediately, someone disagreed: "Is it that you're biased against the Nationalists, or that I misunderstand them? Do they have such a unit?"

Immediately, many people laughed. Someone immediately said, "It must be those people from the Lunan Detachment. They are extremely fierce towards bandits.

"When they see bandits, they only ask three words: Surrender? Or not?"

Immediately, someone echoed, "My neighbor's aunt's cousin's third nephew is in the business of making money without capital.

"Their stronghold has more than a hundred guns, including two of the Japanese devils' heavy machine guns, and more than two hundred people.

"When the Nationalists wanted to reorganize them, the chief was still hesitating when, somehow, a small team under him robbed the Lunan Detachment's reclamation team.

"On the day the bandits were to be reorganized, the Nationalists sent a regiment to take over.

"The Lunan Detachment sent people to attack the stronghold, and the Nationalist regiment was right next to it, but they couldn't persuade them to stop.

"All seven leaders of the stronghold were beheaded, and their heads were hung outside the stronghold as a warning.

"Everything in the stronghold was searched and taken away, and the stronghold was burned to the ground. Thousands of Nationalist soldiers only dared to watch them kill and loot.

"They didn't dare to do anything. Only a dozen or so clever bandits ran into the Nationalist ranks when the first shot rang out and survived.

"Even so, the people of the Lunan Detachment made it clear that, considering that those few bandits did not resist, they spared their lives."

"Are they so arrogant?" Someone couldn't believe it.

"Don't you believe it, if you don't provoke them, there's nothing to it. But once you provoke them, you can't escape even if you run to Xuzhou," someone echoed.

After he finished speaking, everyone's eyes turned to him. This person immediately felt a sense of importance and continued:

"I live in Pangjia Alley in front. The old neighbors all know me." Immediately, someone testified: "Yes, his family has been here for generations."

"Last month, a new family moved in next door. There wasn't a single woman or child, all five were burly men with fierce faces.

"After they moved in, they kept their doors closed and locked every day, never going out.

"One night when I got up to relieve myself, I heard them talking: 'Those people from the Lunan Detachment shouldn't be chasing us here, right?'

"Another said: 'I told you not to kill their people who escaped. You violated their rules. You could have gotten away with half a year of hard labor.

"'But you insisted that now that there's war everywhere, as long as you escape the Lunan Detachment's territory, you'll be fine.

"'And you see what happened? Thirteen brothers, and now there are only five left.'

"Two days later, there was no sound from next door, but there was a stench. All five of them had been beheaded.

"The case hasn't been solved yet! It must have been the Lunan Detachment who did it."

After he finished speaking, everyone present said, "Five strong men were beheaded. That was in the news. So there was such a reason behind it."

"The Lunan Detachment is so powerful. If they were really this fierce at killing Japanese devils, that would be great," said a middle-aged man who looked somewhat scholarly.

"These days, I've seen at least eight or nine thousand Japanese devils and puppet soldiers go out from the North Gate.

"It seems that the Japanese devils must have suffered a great loss in the north."

The scholarly middle-aged man said, "The Japanese devils must have had a weak spot seized by the Lunan Detachment.

"Maybe a group of Japanese devils was surrounded, and the Japanese devils in the city had to send troops to rescue them, but every time they sent a batch, they died.

"That's why they keep sending people there. In my opinion, this batch of Japanese devils is going to their deaths again today.

"If there are still Japanese devils going out from the North Gate tomorrow, then it means this batch of Japanese devils is already dead."

...

Of course, Colonel Nakajima Ayumu, riding on his tall horse, didn't know that just as his regiment had walked out of the North Gate of Xuzhou, someone in the city had already sentenced them to death.

He never imagined that the entire regiment was walking the road to the Yellow Springs at this moment, and would just keep walking into the underworld.

Colonel Nakajima Ayumu still had a worried look on his brow: his regiment had only gotten off the train station three hours ago.

Although the Japanese devils could still march quickly at this time, he was not sure whether they could forcibly march a hundred *li* to reach their destination in a day and a night.

Even though the entire regiment had thrown away all their heavy equipment, it was really difficult for the Japanese devils to march forcibly under the sun in such hot weather.

Captain Nakashiro Jiro, who was following him, clearly saw the colonel's worries.

Pointing to the Japanese devils who were still running forward, he said, "Colonel, don't worry. With so many elite troops, no force can stop us from advancing."

"I'm not worried about the Nationalist troops, I'm worried about the weather. It's too hot today. I'm afraid the Japanese devils can't withstand such high temperatures. Too many Japanese devils suffering from heatstroke will also affect our combat effectiveness," Colonel Nakajima Ayumu said, expressing his concerns.

This was indeed a problem. Captain Nakashiro Jiro thought for a while and said, "Colonel! Weren't *Jintan* pills distributed at the time of departure?

"Now we can have each Japanese devil put one under their tongue. This can refresh their minds, prevent heatstroke, and dispel heat."

This was indeed a good idea. With an order, thousands of Japanese devils received the order and all moved.

Even Colonel Nakajima Ayumu, who was riding on his warhorse, put one under his tongue. Although it was a bit bitter in his mouth, a bit of coolness came out.

If they used it like this, one pill at a time, the *Jintan* pills distributed to each Japanese devil could last until dark.

"Yoshi! Your idea is very good!" Colonel Nakajima Ayumu was increasingly satisfied with Captain Nakashiro Jiro.

This time, Colonel Nakajima was very dissatisfied with being transferred from Beiping to Xuzhou.

Unlike Brigade Commander Inoue Munetake, who was so ambitious, Colonel Nakajima only wanted to maintain law and order in Beiping and have fun in the Eight Great Alleys every day.

Wasn't it good to have wine, meat, and beautiful women every day, and to be surrounded by a group of followers?

Why did he have to run to Xuzhou? And today, he had to march under such a scorching sun. It was really too hard.

If it weren't for the strict military orders, Colonel Nakajima Ayumu would have wanted to let the entire regiment rest for a while.

Like commander, like soldiers! The commander liked to enjoy himself, and the officers under him learned from him, level by level.

Finally, it was passed on to the ordinary Japanese devils. These Japanese devils ran out of the city, and after marching less than ten kilometers, each and every one of them was out of breath, holding their hands on their waists and starting to walk slowly.

It wasn't just one Japanese devil doing this. There were very few in the entire regiment who could still insist on running forward normally.

This made Colonel Nakajima Ayumu anxious: how could he complete the brigade commander's orders like this?

Irie Kazuo was an ordinary Japanese devil in Takahashi Hayato's battalion of the Nakajima Regiment. He had long been unable to keep running, but when he saw that the Japanese devils in the entire battalion were still persisting, he didn't dare to stop.

It was too hot, and he didn't even know when the *Jintan* pill in his mouth had completely melted.

He didn't know anything now, he only knew how to run, run forward.

As Irie Kazuo was running, his body suddenly tilted and he fell down.

Squad Leader Tasokoro Nijusan quickly ran forward to check. He reached out to test his breathing, but there was no response at all.

He immediately dragged Irie Kazuo to the side of the road and splashed a face full of water from his water bottle, but there was still no response.

"He's dead!" Squad Leader Tasokoro announced.

Such Japanese devils were not a minority. The entire regiment had reported at least a dozen or so Japanese devils who had run to their deaths.

When Colonel Nakajima Ayumu saw a small river ahead, he thought that he could let the Japanese devils rest here and fill their water bottles.

He immediately ordered: "Everyone, rest on the spot! Depart in ten minutes!"

While the Japanese devils of the Nakajima Regiment were marching so rapidly, they didn't know that a thousand meters away, there was also a team of people walking alongside them.

Gu Xiuming's reconnaissance platoon of the first company had followed the Asao Regiment yesterday and sent them into the encirclement together.

They hadn't returned yet, and today another Japanese devil regiment had come out. The second company commander also sent a reconnaissance platoon to follow them. Their mission was to follow the Japanese devils all the way and report their marching situation to the regimental commander and the brigade commander.

Reconnaissance Platoon Leader Ping Hongjun led his platoon of more than fifty people, following the Japanese devils and not marching too much in parallel.

The marching speed of this group of Japanese devils was indeed not slow, causing the soldiers in his platoon to sweat profusely.

Seeing the Japanese devils stop to rest, Platoon Leader Ping immediately reported the situation of the Japanese devils back.

They also seized the time to rest. Chu Zhengxin smiled and said, "Today I know the benefits of running ten kilometers every morning.

"Look at how the Japanese devils are running. I've seen at least a hundred Japanese devils who have fallen behind, and more than a dozen have fallen on the road."

The first squad leader looked at Platoon Leader Ping, his eyes full of eager hope: "Platoon Leader! Should I take some people to collect the Japanese devils who have fallen behind!"

When he said collect, of course, it wasn't really collecting, it should be called harvesting to be more accurate.

Platoon Leader Ping shook his head: "Our current mission is to follow this regiment of Japanese devils.

"If we expose our purpose because we go to harvest those Japanese devils who have fallen behind, it won't be worth it.

"This regiment has nearly five thousand Japanese devils."

"But we can't fight a single one!" The first squad leader was a little dissatisfied.

"It doesn't matter who kills them, what matters is that these Japanese devils must die." Platoon Leader Ping was also a little dissatisfied, but he couldn't express this dissatisfaction in front of his subordinates.

In his heart, he thought: "If the first regiment and the second regiment were to set up an ambush here, this Japanese devil team would be dead now.

"They wouldn't need to run dozens of kilometers to their deaths."

Although he thought so in his heart, he said, "The Japanese devils we let go yesterday have been killed by the brothers of the third regiment, the fourth regiment, and the fifth regiment by the thousands.

"Several hundred Japanese devils were surrounded, and these Japanese devils didn't even bring infantry guns, they must be going to save them.

"Tomorrow they will be surrounded again, and the Japanese devils will have to send people to continue to save them.

"We can fight Japanese devils every day! When the brothers of the third regiment, the fourth regiment, and the fifth regiment have had enough fighting.

"It will be our turn. The company commander said that we are here to protect the brothers of the regiments behind us.

"With us here, they can fight the Japanese devils who are being sent over with peace of mind. Don't we look like we're herding five thousand pigs to the slaughterhouse?"

Platoon Leader Ping's words were too vivid, and the soldiers in the entire platoon laughed. These soldiers had ten kilometers of cross-country training every day, a twenty-kilometer training once a week, and a fifty-kilometer march once a month.

For such a walk-along today, the soldiers were not uncomfortable except for being a little hot.

This autumn is really too hot!

Colonel Nakajima Ayumu did not know the weather in Xuzhou in previous years, he just muttered to himself.

For Captain Miyamoto Shinichi, who had run nearly a dozen kilometers, this rest time was too short.

He had finally caught his breath when he heard whistles ringing everywhere. This was the colonel urging the team to prepare to depart.

Captain Miyamoto Shinichi quickly stood up, rushed to the river, and filled his water bottle with river water again.

Then he turned around and shouted at the Japanese devils under his command to quickly get up and prepare to depart.

He knew very well that since the Lugouqiao Incident, the Japanese devils under his command had entered Beiping.

These Japanese devils had never done morning exercises again. Their training was to go to the streets and alleys to forage for food, or to play in the brothels next to the Eight Great Alleys.

Today's rapid march, his squadron had really done its best!

Captain Miyamoto Shinichi looked at Captain Nakashiro Jiro accompanying the colonel, chatting happily, and felt very envious and jealous:

"If I also had a warhorse, I could be smiling at this time too!"

Only officers above the rank of captain and the colonel's guards had warhorses in the entire regiment.

Looking at their relaxed appearance, Captain Miyamoto Shinichi was so envious that he wanted to cut off the horse's legs so that everyone would walk on foot together.

In this way, the colonel probably wouldn't order to depart so soon!

No matter how many Japanese devils had such thoughts, they finally set off again under the urging of their superiors.

This time, the Japanese devils clearly learned a lesson from when they first left Xuzhou City, and their marching speed slowed down.

No matter how the colonel's guards whipped them, these Japanese devils did not speed up. Several Japanese devils who had been whipped even took the rifles they were carrying on their backs in their hands.

This posture of preparing for battle also startled the guards riding on their warhorses.

When they continued to whip the Japanese devils, they intentionally avoided these troublemakers, and as a result, all the Japanese devils in the Nakajima Regiment took their rifles in their hands.

They looked ready to fight at any time, but their marching speed became even slower.

Watching the Japanese devils marching like this from a thousand meters away, the soldiers in the first platoon all laughed.

The Japanese devils were so anxious just now, running forward! Now they were all walking with their rifles in both hands!

On average, the speed was probably not as fast as ordinary marching!

Colonel Nakajima Ayumu also discovered this problem. The team had just rested, so of course they couldn't rest again.

He could only order his guards to ride their warhorses to prepare food in the Tasha Town not far ahead.

He also ordered the Japanese devils in the entire regiment: "Good wine and good meat have been prepared in Tasha Town, which is not far ahead, waiting for us to go and enjoy them.

"We will rest in Tasha Town for an hour tonight."

The Japanese devils in the entire regiment who were walking saw that the guards with whips were gone.

Only then did they change their marching posture and put their rifles back on their backs. When they heard that they would have wine and meat as long as they went ahead,

Their spirits also came up. Although these Japanese devils did not know how far Tasha Town was, it was always good to have hope.

The marching speed of the Japanese devils finally increased a little, but it was only equivalent to the speed of ordinary marching, not rapid marching at all.

The local gentry of Tasha Town never thought that the Japanese devils would come so often and in such large numbers.

Yesterday they had just collected tens of thousands of catties of grain and hundreds of catties of meat to reward the Japanese devils, and this morning these plague-ridden creatures had just left.

In the evening, hundreds of Japanese devils rushed in again, forcing them to prepare again.

Prepare food and wine for the five thousand Japanese devils following behind them.

Even if they had mountains of gold at home, they couldn't stand being plundered like this every day! The gentry of Tasha Town were all on the verge of tears.

Being forced by the Japanese devils with bayonets, even if they didn't want to, the Japanese devils would go into their houses to rob them.

The gentry could only put on bitter faces and summon their servants to prepare for the Japanese devils.

Thinking about what had happened just yesterday, their hearts were bleeding!

While the entire Nakajima Regiment was eating and drinking their fill in Tasha Town, Colonel Asao Isoroku was chewing on dry rations while surrounded by the fourth regiment and the tenth regiment.

The location they were in was a wilderness. The rivers that were once everywhere were nowhere to be found here.

Colonel Asao Isoroku knew that there was a river five *li* to the south. But these five *li* were now a chasm that they could not cross.

Therefore, the nearly a thousand Japanese devils here could only swallow their dry rations with difficulty: The weather was hot, and the little water in their water bottles had long been drunk dry.

Colonel Asao was swallowing his dry rations with difficulty while thinking about his current situation: the team having no water was more terrible than having no dry rations.

When they set out, they had brought seven days' worth of dry rations, which were still plentiful. The roads were full of Japanese devil corpses, and the dry rations they were carrying had been collected.

Enough for the Japanese devils who were lucky enough to survive to eat for half a month. But what about water?

In order to find water, he had organized the Japanese devils to dig three wells, but none of them had found water even after digging to a depth of four or five meters.

It was very difficult to dig deeper. Fortunately, the wells that did not produce water were not wasted, and the corpses were thrown into them.

Each corpse had a hand cut off to carry with them. When the team broke through the encirclement, they would burn these hands into ashes, divide them up, put them into urns, write their names on them, and send them back to the island, so that their souls could return to their hometowns.

It was already dark, and the Japanese devils of the Asao Regiment had not given up. They changed their position and continued to dig. For these Japanese devils, the taste of waiting for death was unbearable.

They might as well have something to do, temporarily forget the threat of death, so that time could pass more quickly.

They still had good news: the Nakajima Regiment sent a telegram saying that they had arrived in Tasha Town and were preparing to rest for an hour before continuing to advance.

Colonel Asao Isoroku knew Tasha Town: It was less than twenty kilometers away from here. If the team marched rapidly, they could arrive in three hours no matter what.

Of course, he couldn't keep such good news to himself. He had to let every Japanese devil under his command know: In three hours, they would be out of trouble.

Since the Asao Regiment was attacked, whether it was Colonel Asao, Brigade Commander Inoue Munetake, or Yamasawa Jiro, the commander of the Xuzhou Detachment, they had completely forgotten that the troops of Major Ogawa Taishi were still surrounded on Huangtu Ridge.

All their actions were aimed at rescuing the Asao Regiment, but Major Ogawa had not forgotten!

He had been working hard to survive. This morning, he also received a telegram from the Asao Regiment saying that they had departed from Tasha Town.

According to the time of six o'clock in the morning, they should theoretically arrive at Huangtu Ridge at noon. Even if the afternoon sun was hot and not suitable for marching, they should arrive by seven o'clock at the latest.

It was already night, and there was no movement at all. Major Ogawa had another ominous premonition: Could it be that the Asao Regiment had been annihilated again?

Of course, he couldn't ask so directly. Major Ogawa skillfully sent a telegram of concern to Colonel Asao asking them where they would spend the night.

When Colonel Asao received the telegram, an inexplicable surge of anger rose up. If it weren't for rescuing this idiot, his regiment wouldn't be trapped here.

Thinking that the Kongu Shunka Brigade had also sent so many Japanese devil lives for this Major Ogawa's troops, Colonel Asao's anger grew even greater.

He only replied with two words: "Zhaozhuang!" In fact, the Asao Regiment had not yet arrived in Zhaozhuang.

Although it was only a two-word reply, Major Ogawa was overjoyed: Being able to reply meant that the Asao Regiment was still there.

That was enough. At least they hadn't been annihilated! Of course, Major Ogawa didn't know that the situation of the Asao Regiment was the same as that of his troops.

They had all become bait for the Lunan Detachment to lure Japanese devils!

Major Ogawa drew and drew on the map, and saw that the Asao Regiment had only advanced forty *li* in a day.

He was a little confused, but his staff analyzed it: This was because the Asao Regiment was attacking and advancing. They must have crushed the Nationalist's blocking forces all the way.

There were only forty *li* left from Zhaozhuang to Huangtu Ridge, and the Asao Regiment would arrive tomorrow no matter what.

This was good news! Soon all the Japanese devils of Major Ogawa's troops knew about it.

The days of being surrounded on Huangtu Ridge were not easy, especially in the past few days, the Japanese devils of the entire troops felt that every day was like a year.

Yesterday's good news was that a full infantry regiment was coming to rescue them, which had revived the hearts of the Japanese devils who had already died.

Today, more good news came that the reinforcements were only forty *li* away and would arrive in a few hours.

The Japanese devils of Major Ogawa's troops all fell asleep with beautiful dreams this night.

They were all imagining that they had returned to Xuzhou and could happily play in Xuzhou City again, wanting to eat tofu and drink soy milk.

Many Japanese devils in the Ogawa troops woke up from their dreams laughing several times.